Antonides, John

, an eminent Dutch poet, surnamed Vander Goes, from the place in Zealand
where he was born, April 3, 1647, of parents who were
anabaptists, people of good character, but of low circumstances. They went to live at Amsterdam, when An ton ides
was about four years old; and in the ninth year of his age
he began his studies, under the direction of HadrianJunius and JamesCocceius. Antonides took great pleasure in
reading the Latin poets, carefully comparing them with
Grotius, Heinsius, &c. and acquired a considerable taste
for poetry. He first attempted to translate some pieces of
Ovid, Horace, and other ancients; and having formed his
taste on these excellent models, he at length undertook
one of the most difficult tasks in poetry, to write a tragedy,
entitled, “Trazil,” or the “Invasion of China,” but was
so modest as not to permit it to be published. Vondel,
who was then engaged in a dramatic piece, taken also from
some event that happened in China, read Antonides’s tragedy, and was so well pleased with it, that he declared, if the
author would not print it, he would take some passages out
of it, and make use of them in his own tragedy, which he
did accordingly; and it was reckoned much to the honour
of Antonides, to have written what might be adopted by so
great a poet as Vondel was acknowledged to be. Upon
the conclusion of the peace betwixt Great Britain and
Holland, in the year 1697, Antonides wrote a piece, entitled “Bellona aan band,” i. e. Bellona chained; a very
elegant poem, consisting of several hundred verses. The
applause with which this piece was received, excited him
to try his genius in something more considerable; he accordingly wrote an epic poem, which he entitled The River
| Y. ‘the description of this river, or rather lake, is the
subject of the poem, which is divided into four books; in
the first the poet gives a very pompous description of all
that is remarkable on that bank of the Y on which Amsterdam is built. In the second he opens to himself a larger
field, beginning with the praises of navigation, and describing the large fleets which cover the Y as an immense forest, and thence go to every part of the world, to bring
home whatever may satisfy the necessity, luxury, or pride
of men. The third book is au ingenious fiction, which
supposes the poet suddenly carried to the bottom of the
river Y, where he sees the deity of the river, with his demigods and nymphs, adorning and dressing themselves for a
feast, which was to be celebrated at Neptune’s court, upon
the anniversary of the marriage of Thetis with Peleus. In
the fourth book he describes the other bank of the Y,
adorned with several cities of North Holland; and in the
close of the work addresses himself to the magistrates of
Amsterdam, to whose wisdom he ascribes the riches and
flourishing condition of that powerful city. This is a very
short abridgment of the account of this poem given in the
General Dictionary, according to which it appears to have
contained many other fictions that savour of the burlesque.
Antonides’s parents had bred him up an apothecary; but
his genius for poetry soon gained him the esteem and
friendship of several persons of distinction; and particularly of Mr. Buisero, one of the lords of the admiralty at
Amsterdam, and a great lover of poetry, who sent him at
iiis own expence to pursue his studies at Leyden, where he
remained till he took his degree of doctor of physic, and
then his patron gave him a place in the admiralty. In 1678
Antonides married Susanna Bermans, a minister’s daughter, who had also a talent for poetry. In the preface to his
heroic poem, he promised the life of the apostle Paul,
which, like Virgil’s Æneid, was to be divided into twelve
books; but he never finished that design, only a few fragments having appeared. He declared himself afraid to
hazard his reputation with the public on theological subjects, which were so commonly the subject of contest.
After marriage he did not much indulge his poetic genius;
and within a few years fell into a consumption, of which he
died on the 18th of Sept. 1684, He is esteemed the most
eminent Dutch poet after Vondel, whom he studied to
imitate, and is thought to have excelled in sweetness of
|
expression and smoothness of style, but in accuracy and loftiness he is greatly inferior to his original. His works have
been printed several times, having been collected by his
father Anthony Jansz. The last edition is that of Amsterdam, 1714, 4to, which, however, contains several miscellaneous pieces that add but little to the reputation he
acquired. The editor, David Van Hoogstraten, prefixed
his life to this edition. 1

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